Riverdale does not belong to me; this is mindless fun.

Note: this is truly the final installment of this. Hope you like this. It's supposed to give you a sugar comma. The song used here is A Thousand Years by Christina Perri.

YOUR SOUL

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epilogue

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The bouquet has seven different colors in it, seven different kinds between all the twenty-eight flowers. It was a probably ridiculously expensive treat, but they have been spending tons and tons of money lately, so this is nothing, nothing compared to the smile on Veronica's face as she hides behind it, almost disappearing amongst the flowers.

"Special delivery to Mr. Andrews," she says with laughter in her voice. Archie can't help but giggle, taking the flowers from her hands and drinking in the sight of her, so beautiful it will never cease to amaze him. She's wearing her work clothes, a pencil skirt that's doing wonders to her hips, and her pumps are black and shiny.

"What's the occasion?" Archie smells the flowers like he's a teenage girl, and his nose prickles a little. Veronica lets herself inside the apartment and closes the door behind her.

"Just some flowers that you can give to your fiancé," she says, touching the petals with perfectly manicured fingertips, the diamond on her left finger shining brightly, "I'm sure she'll love them."

"I'll make sure to give them as soon as I see her," he lowers the bouquet and reaches toward Veronica with his free arm, holding her by the waist, and pulling her closer to him, "But since she's not here…"

She slaps his shoulder, playfully, but then tilts her chin up so she can kiss him with her berry mouth, soft and tentative. Archie leaves the flowers somewhere to this left, so he can hold her with both arms as their lips part together and the kiss deepens. She melts into his mouth, winding her arms around his neck.

It's been almost exactly six years since Veronica Lodge has walked back into his life, saving him from a tragedy, giving him hope after he has lost his father way before he should have. It's been almost exactly six years since he kissed her again, since she asked him to let her know when he needed her (always), since she promised to stay.

And in a couple of days, when it is exactly six years from that knock on his door, he will watch her walk down an aisle, wearing a beautiful white dress, carrying another extravaganza of flowers, and he will feel like the luckiest man alive; a feeling that still overthrows him, even though he's enraptured by it every day.

"Hey," he says when the kiss breaks, and his lips are still wet, and his eyes open slowly into hers.

"Hi, babe," she mutters before kissing him again, a little more eager, and Archie can't do anything but comply.

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A couple of hours later, they lay together in their bed – their bed, of their new apartment, the one with floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and a view of the Brooklyn Bridge, and moving to Williamsburg was probably her biggest compromise, his uptown girl.

One of her legs is hooked over his hip, and their partially covered by the sheets, but he can see her naked breasts in the dim light, and he can see her hair falling like dark velvet down her back, as she runs her fingers up and down the four-inches scar on the middle of his breastbone, from the day they fixed his heart.

Veronica always touches him in that spot after they make love, ever since the surgery and the treatment were over and his heart was no longer in danger. Sometimes she kisses it and moves her lips down until he's ready for her again.

Once, he caught a look on her face, and then realize she was tearing up, and she confessed with her face hiding in the crook of his neck that she had been so scared, so scared she would lose him to those blades and those beeping sounds, and that she loved him so much it felt like her own heart would eventually burst out of her chest.

But most of the time she just skims her fingers up and down his skin, just like she's doing now, and rests her head on his torso as they breathe in sync and talk about something in a soft voice. This time, the chosen topic is the seating arrangements for the rehearsal dinner that is happening tomorrow.

"Your mom and Brenan will have to endure my mom and Carl-what's-his-face, as much as I've tried to save Mary from Satan."

Archie chuckles, "I don't understand why you hate Carl so much. He's a nice guy."

Her scowl is delightful, "He's our age and looks ripped off a gigolo's catalog."

"But so do I," Archie laughs and leans in to kiss her, but she pinches the side of his body before he can reach her lips, "Ouch. You were the one who told me that!"

"When I was trying to insult you for liking Carl," she lays her head on his chest again, and Archie gives his head a minute shake, trying to hold the laughter inside him, "Your ability to like everyone is annoying."

He thinks of a sassy answer about falling for her of all people but settles to press a kiss on the top of her head and rest his hand on her waist again, because not even joking he would say that he regrets being with her.

They stay in silence for a moment, and she breathes in deeply before talking again, and this time her voice reaches a lower, more fragile tune, "My father hasn't RSVP'd yet, so we might move someone else to the table, maybe Betty's parents."

Archie tries to pull her closer, tries to lock her in his embrace. Hiram Lodge has always been a sensitive topic – Veronica got her scholarship, aced Law School like Archie always knew she would, got a nice internship and then an actual job in a solid law firm, and he has seen her struggling with forgiveness for the past six years and has done his best to stand by her, but her father was a complicated man, who missed his daughter but couldn't swallow his pride.

She takes a deep breath, and rests her chin on his chest, tilting her head up to look at him, her eyelashes down in that vulnerable way she gets from time to time. Archie thinks of something to say, but he doesn't want her seeming so hopeless, so he changes the subject, "You still haven't told me what song you want me to sing."

She looks almost grateful, "You know I love them all."

"You keep saying that," he leans in to kiss her quickly on her lips, "But you promised me you would choose one. I don't wanna pick the wrong sappy ballad and ruin our pre-wedding day."

"Just stay clear of the ones where I'm heartless and you're wallowing."

He laughs, "That narrows the repertoire down to two songs, ouch," she pinches him again, and this time is a little more forceful than the other, even though she is finally smiling too, "Why are you so violent today?"

"Oh, am I?" she kinks her eyebrow, and Archie feels his blood boil despite of himself, because she's naked in his arms and on their bed and she's looking at him like that, and he ends up biting down his lower lip to hold a smile when she nudges his body with him and sits on top of him, both hands on his wrists, pinning his hands to the mattress, over his head, as if she was strong enough to hold him under, "You know I can be worse than this," she says against his lips, grinding her hip against his, and Archie tries to keep from moaning.

"Ronnie," he mutters as he tries to kiss her, but she pulls back, teeth pulling his lower lip along with her. She leaves his wrists, running her nails down his arms and then the side of his torso, and Archie throws his head back, slowly reaching towards her until she pins his arms to the bed again.

"Don't touch me," she says, demands, and his arms stay over his head, and his skin is full of goosebumps from her nails scraping down the muscles of his abdomen. He holds the headboard instead, fingers curling around the cool metal frame, and if the way she's moving her hips against his wasn't getting him hard, the feel of her teeth biting down one of his nipples does the job, "You can watch."

"Fuck, babe," he hisses, trying to keep his eyes open to her as she sits back on him, her index finger sliding between his lips so he can suck it, and when she feels its moist enough, the finger swirls around the same nipple she's bitten, and then runs down, and down until it reaches the parts where their bodies meet, and he hisses when he sees that she uses that same finger to touch herself on top of him, and he feels as she gets wet against his erection.

She moans loudly, tossing her head back, exposing her neck to him, and Archie holds the headboard so hard his knuckles are white. Veronica plants her hands on his chest for leverage and lifts her hip a little, sinking onto him without notice, hot and tight around him, fitting perfectly like she ever did.

Archie groans, and then lets go of the bed frame despite her warnings to pull her close to him while their hips rock together, and she doesn't object, letting him kiss her with an open mouth. They move like that for some time, and when Veronica starts to shake, Archie pulls back, and before she can complain he flips her to her stomach, slipping inside her from behind, and the noise she makes is the one he wants to hear for the rest of his life.

He grabs one side of her hips and his other hand finds its way down the front of her body, so he can touch her between her legs, and she whimpers as he moves inside her faster and faster, her both hands holding the headboard now, her back glittering with sweat.

"Oh my God," she says, trembling as she comes, and Archie pulls her by the waist until her back in against his stomach, and his face is hiding in her neck, and he sucks and nips at the skin, and she's still pulsing around him when he bites down her shoulder and feels that he's losing himself inside her one more time, "Keep going, babe. Don't stop."

"Yeah?" he breathes hot against her ear and tries his best to hold himself as he glides in and out of her, but he's starting to lose control, "I love you," he says, biting her earlobe, and she moans again, pushing him to move even harder, "I fucking love you."

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Veronica leaves at the crack of dawn when the office summons her for a sudden meeting – Archie is still drunk with sleep and endorphin when he hears she talking to someone on the phone, and then hears she complaining about a hickey the day before my wedding, Archibald, and he can't help but grin against the pillow, because he vaguely remembers the way she screamed his name the night before when he gave her said hickey.

She sounds pissed, but she still kisses the side of his head and whispers she loves him before leaving, and his heart feels light, bubbly, and it's the kind of happiness that he could drown in.

He wishes he could find a way to thank her for everything. He's written a million songs about her, about them, he's asked her to be his wife, to share his home and all his dreams, he plans on having her in sickness and health for the rest of their lives, but it's still not enough.

He knows there are parts of Veronica that he can't quite grasp, parts of her soul and of her troubled youth that are too dark, and she only shows him glimpses of it, from time to time, always so afraid to be weak and defenseless, but he wants to reach these too.

Archie opens his eyes and flirts with the idea for a moment until he reaches for his phone on the nightstand, and scrolls down his contact list. It's barely seven, but that means he has less than twelve hours to make the impossible happen, so he has no time to lose.

He breathes in before pressing the green button to call Hiram Lodge.

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Archie wears sunglasses in the subway on his way to the Financial District, but his red hair is a beacon and people still recognize him. He has to take a few selfies and give a few autographs before making his way up Fulton Street. He is used to that movement, that strange piece of fame, after all this time, even though he's done with the concerts and intends to slowly retreat as a songwriter only, leaving his singing career behind. He's young and people love his two albums, and all his new singles, but Archie thinks they sound better in someone else's voices. He was never suited to the celebrity life, anyway.

He's vaguely aware of a paparazzi following him but decides to ignore him and just focus on his most impending problem: meeting with Hiram Lodge for lunch in a fancy Marriott downtown, talking to him without wanting to murder him for breaking Veronica's heart again and again, and the most difficult part: keeping this a secret from her.

Archie supposes he should dodge the paparazzi, after all.

In the stupid attempt, he buys a non-official Yankees' cap from a tourist stand and shoves it in his head to hide his hair from the burning sun. Everybody looks at him like he's crazy, wearing a tie and sunglasses and a baseball cap, but the doorman in the Marriott welcomes him anyway, asking if he's checking-in.

He looks around and there's no sign of the paparazzi, so he takes off his hat and the shades, and informs that he's meeting someone in the Bill's Bar and Burger. The doorman leads him to it, and it doesn't take long for Archie to find Hiram Lodge amongst the tables.

Taking a deep breath, Archie walks toward him. They had met for the last time almost a year ago when Archie decided that he was going to ask for Veronica's hand even if it got him killed in the process – Fred Andrews would have never allowed him to marry someone without asking for her family's permission, it wasn't right – and the feeling in the pit of his stomach was the same.

(Hiram Lodge had given him then a speech about responsibilities and how his artist lifestyle would never be able to find his daughter's spoiled demands, and how he would never be able to take care of her. Archie couldn't help but fight back and say that he had taken care of Veronica while Hiram was in prison, which was probably a stupid thing to say if he was trying to marry his daughter, but somehow it made Hiram look at him with a little more respect, and he'd said okay, marry her then.)

"Mr. Lodge," he calls. Hiram gets up, ever the respectful gentleman, and reaches out give Archie a firm handshake, "Thank you for meeting me, sir."

"Archie Andrews. I can't say I'm happy to see you," he lifts his eyebrows, and Archie scoffs, almost laughing. Both sit down and stare at each other, suits and ties matching, Archie's new hat crumbled in one of his hands, "Didn't take you for a Yankees' fan."

Didn't take you for an asshole when I first met you, either, he thinks about saying, but then just smiles politely and leaves his hat on his lap, "Mr. Lodge, I don't want to take too much of your time. We don't even need to eat if you don't want to."

"That's unfortunate, they have a great dry-aged burger in this joint. Joe," he calls the waiter, who comes so fast some would think he was summoned by a king. Archie resists the urge of rolling his eyes, "Two dry-aged for me and my son-in-law. Can you believe my daughter is marrying a mediocre musician? You raise your kid with everything you have and look what happens. Bring us two beers, too."

Joe leaves with the order so fast some would think he had a grenade around his neck, and Archie clears his throat, trying to focus on what he came to do, "So, Mr. Lodge. This is exactly why I asked you to meet me. I was wondering why you haven't RSVP'd yet. The wedding is tomorrow."

Hiram's brows are drawn together, and Joe comes back with their beers before he can answer anything. He looks at Archie in a way he has always looked at Archie, a mixture of despising and admiration, stunned over how this boy could be so audacious, how he could look at his almighty being as an equal.

"Well," he says once Joe has poured the beers into tall glasses and left. He raises his glass and quickly bumps it against Archie's, who still hasn't touched it, "I haven't RSVP'd because I am not going."

He says it so casually, like his only daughter's wedding means nothing, like it's just another event in a list of the endless events a man like him is invited too, and Archie feels sick to his stomach, but swallows around the lump on his throat, and asks a simple question, "Why?"

Hiram scoffs, "Veronica knows very well I have disapproved every single decision she has made in the past decade. If she really wanted me in her life, she would be by my side, running Lodge Industries with me, an Ivy League diploma on her wall. She's exactly like her mother, that one. Proud, ungr–"

"It's her wedding day, for God's sake," Archie interrupts him, trying to control his voice, curling his hand into a fist, "It doesn't matter where she is working or what is she doing, it's her wedding day, Mr. Lodge. And I know you think I'm scum and that I don't deserve her, I don't think I deserve her, but she chose me. She said yes, she wants to be with me, and it's my duty to make her as happy as possible, but I don't think she can be happy if her own father can't go to her wedding because he thinks her decisions revolve around him."

Hiram rests the beer on the table and crosses his arms in front of his chest, brown eyes pierced on Archie's face, overanalyzing him.

Archie sighs, "Veronica has suffered enough because of you and her mother, your expectations. It's a daily battle for her to think she is enough for this world because you two always wanted more of her but couldn't give her anything. I wasn't there before –" he pauses, clenching his jaw as he thinks about the years they've spent apart, "I wasn't there through the divorce, or the threats, or the fallout, and I can't fix whatever happened then, but I am here now, and I'm going to be here forever. She's your only daughter, Mr. Lodge, and I know that she loves you and that she misses you. I also know for the life of me that you love her. So why? Why are you doing this to her?"

Joe arrives with their burgers, but Archie's eyes are stuck in Hiram's, and none of them answer when the waiter asks if they want ketchup. He takes the hint, leaving them with their silent talk, and Archie knows he's going to be the one to break it, knows he's the one that's not being fed with pride and bitterness.

"I've lost my father, Mr. Lodge. Six years ago. Six years and two weeks, to be exact. He tried to talk to me for weeks before he was gone, about something important, and I kept saying later," Archie stops for a moment, because it will never not hurt to talk about this, "I kept saying that to him and to myself and the moment never came, I could never – I thought he was always going to be there. He would always wait for me to get over myself and I never did, and once I realized, he was gone," he sighs, "You're alive, Mr. Lodge. You can… You can walk her down the aisle, you can give her your blessing. I've lost my father, and he can't be there, but you can."

He sees Hiram's jaw tighten, and a vein in his forehead quivers as he stares at Archie, whose heart is beating fast. It doesn't look like he is going to say anything, but at least he listened, Archie thinks.

Archie swallows hard, looks down at the beer and the burger, and thinks his stomach would never be able to handle any of it right now, so he just takes a deep breath and slides his chair back, getting up, "The rehearsal starts at six, dinner is at nine. I'll make sure to save your seat at the parents' table. I really hope to see you there, sir."

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Despite Archie's efforts, Hiram doesn't show at the rehearsal. Veronica walks down the aisle (a tape-market pathway with no decorations whatsoever) alone, holding just one plastic flower the wedding planner gives to her, and she's wearing a simple strapless navy dress, but her hair is up in an intricate, quite Grecian up-do, with pearls around her neck, and Archie wonders if they have really fixed his heart, because it's beating so hard it can't be normal.

"The priest will ask you to say your vows," the ceremonialist tells them as they hold hands, staring at each other, and he can see Betty's and Lauren's eyes tearing up from their maid of honor and bridesmaid's posts. He grins a little, thinking that tomorrow is going to be a sob fest, "And after you exchange the rings, he'll give you the last blessings and pronounce you husband and wife."

"And then I can kiss her?" Archie asks, probably smiling like a kid in a candy shop, but he can't help – he hasn't kissed Veronica since they arrived, he hasn't really kissed her since last night, and it's been already way too long. Everybody in the venue laughs, including Veronica, and he can feel Jughead rolling his eyes.

"Yes, Mr. Andrews, that's when you can kiss her," the woman says, smiling, and when Archie looks at Veronica she is kinking an eyebrow, the same way she did last night before climbing onto his lap and basically eating him alive. He grins, hopes that she doesn't do that tomorrow because he doesn't want to have impure thoughts in front of a priest – but right now, it's okay, and he pulls her by the hand and kisses her hard, bending her backward, like in the movies.

There's a mix of giggles, awws and clapping, but there's also Veronica's arms around his neck, holding him so she doesn't fall to the ground, and when she pulls apart their faces are close together, and when she smiles against his lips, it does feel a little like a movie script ending.

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Their wedding venue still wasn't decorated, but the restaurant Veronica has chosen for the dinner has probably never seen better days, and it gets Archie excited over how things are going to be in the next day. He didn't do much or choose much – she's had her wedding planned since she was eight, every detail from the flowers to the color of the bridesmaid's dresses (emerald green) – but he knew she would do a great job and settled for choosing the cake and the songs that would be played.

The restaurant looks practically like a fancy uptown club with fairy lights hanging from the ceiling and little green bows tying up off-white napkins, and their initials, A&V, are everywhere he lays his eyes on. Veronica has changed her simple blue dress to a light grey, more complicated one; there's a feathery pattern amongst the soft layers of silvery fabric, and the upper part is almost too revealing and pushing his self-control to its breaking point, but she looks like an angel or a fairy, and he can't take his eyes off her or her red lips as she smiles to the guests.

They give their thank-you presents to the bridesmaids and the groomsmen, Jughead gives an eye-tearing toast (a toast that should have been given by Fred Andrews, if he was there, and Archie is reminded by his absence every time he looks at his mother and her new partner, or when he spots Hiram's empty seat at the parents' table), and after they've eaten a three course meal it's time for his performance. Veronica hasn't yet chosen a song, and he has exactly five minutes to ask her again before his time runs out, but he can't find her anywhere.

Once he's asked all around and still can't find her, he gives up (it's probably something with the dress, Betty tells him), and joins Lauren and Bruce in a round of fireballs, asking their opinion on which song he should sing, when the chatter in the room quiets and the lights fade, and his throat is still burning with the liquor when looks at the mounted stage where Veronica is glittering under a spotlight, holding his guitar on her lap.

"Okay," she starts talking into the microphone, laughing a little with her face blushing beneath the makeup. Archie looks around and everybody – including Betty, his mother, and Carl-what's-his-face – is smiling like they were hoping for this exact moment, "Thank you, friends and family, for keeping my secret."

Jughead makes a catcall sound. Archie feels his ears heat up as he stares at Veronica in awe, "What the…"

"Archie Andrews," she goes on, a smile on her face, "I knew from the day I've heard you sing for the first time that you'd be a success, and of course I've only agreed to marry you because you're famous," there's laughter all around, and the heat spreads to Archie's cheeks, but he smiles too, "You kept asking me which song I wanted you to play tonight, and I thought really hard until it hit me – you've done that enough. You've been singing to me since we were stupid teenagers. You've been singing to me through sleepless nights, happy and sad days. Your voice always followed me everywhere I went, your words have reminded me of how much I –" she takes in a deep breath, her expression more serious, "So, tonight, the day before we get married, I wanted to do the same for you. I'm not good with words, not the way you are, so I've borrowed them from someone else. I'm not good with a guitar, either, but I thought I'd give it a go. This is for you, babe. Hope it can tell you things I sometimes can't say."

He vaguely recognizes the chords she starts playing with unskilled fingers, and the song starts slower than it probably would with someone who knew how to play, but then she opens her mouth and starts singing, and her voice is soft and perfect as it has always been, "The day we met, frozen I held my breath. Right from the start, I knew that I've found a home to my heart."

There's another round of awws around him, "Beats fast, colors and promises. How to be brave?" she misses a chord, and opens her eyes, biting her lip apologetically. Archie doesn't remember how to breathe, and he is very aware of his vision blurring as she continues to sing, "How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?"

"But watching you stand alone all of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow," she draws in a breath, and closes her eyes again before continuing, "One step closer."

"I have died every day waiting for you. Darling don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years, I'll love you for a thousand more."

She's grown little confident plucking chords, and her voice is louder now, but Archie can't understand how no one is hearing the thunderous beat of his heart.

"And all along I believed I would find you," this piece of lyrics tugs at Archie's heartstrings, and he can't help a tear from falling when he blinks, "Time has brought your heart to me, I have loved you for a thousand years, I'll love you for a thousand more."

She settles for a humming sound as the last chords reverberate through the room, and Archie gets up even before she finishes it, walking towards her. Veronica sets the guitar aside when she sees him coming to her direction and gets up as well. There's a moment, a moment of stillness when they look at each other as if there was no one else in the room, and then he just holds her, just wraps her in his arms. Where she's going to stay forever.

"I love you, Ronnie," he whispers softly, tightening up his arms around her, hiding his face on her neck, feeling her soft skin under his lips, "I love you so much, babe."

There are applause and quiet murmurs, and Archie and Veronica are both glassy-eyed when they release one another after a lingering moment. She smiles, and then laughs, holding his face on her hands as she tilts up her head to kiss him softly, probably leaving him with a red lipstick stain on his upper lip, and he turns his head to the tables, winking.

That's when he sees that Hiram Lodge's seat is no longer empty and that he's there, slowly clapping with the rest of their friends and family. Archie's big smile turns into a smaller one, and he nods at the man when their eyes meet. Hiram nods back. Veronica's body stiffens in Archie's embrace, and he knows she has seen her father, too.

"Daddy?" she asks quietly, her beam disappearing from her face, and Archie looks down at her, prompting her to look at him as well, "Archie, did you –"

"Yes," he says, honestly. Veronica swallows hard, both hands on his arms as if she was trying to steady herself, and he knows that she's surprised and probably still hurt, but he also knows that he's done the right thing, "I love you," he repeats, finding her lips one more time before freeing her from the embrace, "Go talk to your father."

She takes a deep breath, "Babe."

"Go," he repeats, kissing her again, and one more time, "I love you."

She looks into his eyes, and he knows she would say thank you if she could get around the lump in her throat and the uncertainty of her relationship with her father, but she gives him her little smile, his favorite one, the one that never fails to make him feel so in love with her, and it's more than enough.

But then, before leaving the stage, she kisses him again, and the words she says against his mouth are those he once thought he would never hear she say.

"I love you too."

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the end

Note: now it's really over! :( I am sad, but I am also so happy about everything – this story, this characters and this relationship that never fails to make me believe in love. The last few days have been really difficult in real life, and this story has helped me go through this. I hope you all liked it, the response has always made me so happy. I am looking forward to your comments, asks, and everything else. Thank you!

A special thanks to my real life Lauren who has helped me through this all and beared with me while I was freaking out and fangirling and etc. You're my sunshine, dear.

Also, people have been asking me if I have plans to write another Varchie fanfic, and the answer is yes. It will happen and I will let you know. Keep an eye here or on tumblr ;)